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High-profile gaming research analyst for Wedbush Securities, Michael Pachter, has told IndustryGamers that if Microsoft does not respond to recent price cuts "PS3 will outsell Xbox 360" in the US this holiday season.

The 360 has been outselling the PS3 on its US home turf during 2011 but, in a soon to be published "Pachter's Podium" Q&A, the analyst has reportedly called the holiday battle between the two consoles a "close call."

"If Microsoft does nothing, I think PS3 will outsell Xbox 360," Pachter told IndustryGamers. "However, my friends at Microsoft are extremely proud, and they absolutely refuse to tolerate the possibility that the PS3 will outsell the Xbox 360. I think they have the ads printed for the Xbox 360 price cut, and will drop them on us the instant they see PS3 sales greater than 360 sales."

On the back of a series of price cuts PS3 sales have significantly increased around the world, in one case by 400 percent.

Microsoft, to date, has insisted there are no plans to reduce the price of the 360 in the near future.

Considering how little time I'll have to play multiplayer this winter, that isn't quite as much of an attention-keeper as it used to be. It's honestly the only reason I picked one up again. My back-and-forth on 360s are legendary, but I've never once considered selling my PS3 (of course, knowing me, I just might not be remembering).

I'd never sell my PS3 either. Better games, hardware, and interface. The only thing Xbox has is Halo and Xbox Live. I've considered moving my launch-day console into the second bedroom and buying a Kinect bundle - how's the new hardware compare to the old stuff? Quieter?

I'd never sell my PS3 either. Better games, hardware, and interface. The only thing Xbox has is Halo and Xbox Live. I've considered moving my launch-day console into the second bedroom and buying a Kinect bundle - how's the new hardware compare to the old stuff? Quieter?

What about controller preference?

Anyway I feel like saying all the XBOX has in Live is kinda like saying all the Mac has is the experience. That's like the most important part, yo.

"We came on board to make a third person action adventure game, in the Call of Duty franchise," Schofield said in a video feature on Gamespot, "and we were working on it about six months." Condrey was matter of fact about the reasoning behind Sledgehammer's action-adventure title. "There are a lot of fans out there who enjoy games like Uncharted, so you can imagine that genre meeting a world-class franchise."

Condrey decided to rub it in a little more. "We had a prototype together that was pretty compelling, and it looked really good." But the chance to help make Activision's big gun shoot straight has probably killed its would-be offshoot. "The opportunity to work on the biggest thing in the industry with... Infinity Ward, that's demonstrated that they know how to do exceptional software, was just an opportunity we couldn't (pass up)."

"Publishers are getting the living crap kicked out of them by Microsoft," Rob Dyer, Sony's SVP of public relations, told Industry Gamers in a recent interview concerning Microsoft's publishing policies. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here -- Dyer was provoked by the following information from Microsoft's Content Submission and Release Policy, which forbids its games from being released first or with exclusive content on other platforms

Sour grapes for being beaten to the punch. I seem to recall a few games couldn't get exclusive DLC on XBOX because Sony had already tied up the rights.

Yeah? And who's to say Sony wouldn't be using their position to do the same if they had beaten MS to the punch?

The absence of that kind of tactic in Sony's department is probably why they're in third place this gen (though that's not as bad as it sounds).

Mortal Kombat characters for another. My point is, they're locking out MS on this small stuff, why wouldn't they be trying for the bigger stuff if they could?

Ah, yes...Kratos.

If Microsoft is threatening to take its ball and go home, publishers would have to face the prospect of losing 60% of their sales. I'm sure that wouldn't be worth whatever morsels Sony could throw their way as incentive for timed exclusives. I feel like Sony could do the same thing, but after knocking Microsoft's policy, there's probably no way it'll happen.

The absence of that kind of tactic in Sony's department is probably why they're in third place this gen (though that's not as bad as it sounds).

Not a chance. In the grand scheme this is a drop in the bucket.

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

If Microsoft is threatening to take its ball and go home, publishers would have to face the prospect of losing 60% of their sales. I'm sure that wouldn't be worth whatever morsels Sony could throw their way as incentive for timed exclusives. I feel like Sony could do the same thing, but after knocking Microsoft's policy, there's probably no way it'll happen.

I picked up Resistance 3 after spending a good amount of time with the multiplayer beta, and I can see myself spending a lot of time there until UC3 comes out. I've heard a lot of people compare to the multiplayer to a mixture of CoD and Halo, and I'd tend to agree with it. The play styles are relatively similar to CoD, but the weapon/perks/abilities variety is definitely heavy on the sci-fi. The Resistance series has always been known for its crazy weapons, apparently.

What sucks about the PS3 falling short with online, time of release, terrible pricing, and their other problems that have plagued them this generation is that so many people have missed out on some truly great games. All I could think of while I was playing Resistance 3's multiplayer was, "Now, this is what Homefront should have been like." For some reason, R3 reminded me a lot of Homefront's gameplay, except substituting crazy guns for vehicles. I really can't explain why the two feel so similar -- maybe it's the feel of the controls.

I understand everyone being content with their system of choice. I'm finally more at peace with my own. I just hate that Sony screwed the pooch on this gen -- at least enough that some of my favorite games of all-time are now "you had to be there" conversations.

Originally Posted by excal1bur

Yeah, it's a blast. I haven't gotten a chance to try the 4 player co op yet, time got past me, but I hear that's were its REALLY at.

Looks like fun, even if the reviews are mixed. I'd hop on with you if I hadn't already picked up Resistance 3 and Deus Ex. Then Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, and Arkham City are all going to hit near the same time...

I got a $10 gift card when I bought Deus Ex, so I might use that and pick up Resistance 3. I see the reviews are very good for that and I do enjoy the series a lot. Uncharted 3 is what I'm REALLY waiting for this year, too.

Man, has Nintendo ever botched the 3DS. It's been six months (?) and they're adding a second stick (which should have been there in the first place?). Wonder how long til the hardware rev that makes this standard.

Copies of Driver: San Francisco for Xbox 360 being sold by retailers do not include the Uplay Passport, a code required to access multiplayer beyond the 48-hour trial period. Driver is the first title by Ubisoft to require a Uplay Passport.

A change of heart? Did Ubisoft see the error of its ways?

Due to a printing error on the insert of some copies of Driver: San Francisco in North America, Ubisoft has elected to provide the Driver Uplay Passport content for free.

his year, EA introduced its Online Pass, which directly combats the used games market by offering one-time use codes to play its EA Sports games online. Those obtaining used copies of the game must purchase an additional $10 pass from EA to play online.

According to Brown, the revenues from the program have not been terribly substantial for the company, though the profit margins are of course significant.

"The revenues we derive from that haven't been dramatic. I'd say they're in the $10-$15 million range since we initiated the program," he said. While the sales are not "dramatic" in volume, he pointed out that it is all "found revenue" that comes from users who previously "consumed bandwidth for free."

If my math is right that's 1 to 1.5 million passes, right? Sounds like a pathetic fraction of used game sales. What a surprise, most people who buy used don't want to spring for a $10 rip-off. All to reclaim that "consumed bandwidth" that was already slotted for the original game purchase.

Dyer cited several examples where on multiplatform releases, the PS3 SKU performed better than the Xbox 360 SKU when comparing the numbers to the respective installed bases for the two high-definition platforms. Sony considers anything below a 1.6 index ratio on software to be favorable. Perhaps the chief example of this was Warner Bros' Mortal Kombat which way over-indexed for Sony.

"If you have a choice between buying a PS3 version and an Xbox version of Mortal Kombat, which one are you buying? You’re buying the PS3 version because you can play as Kratos. Although Microsoft has a 1.6 to 1 index ratio against us [on hardware], we outsold them on Mortal Kombat nearly at a 1 to 1. So that is due in large part to the exclusive content that you’re getting on disc. You’ll see that happening on almost every case where we’ve had a game that they’ve supported with on disc content or with exclusive DLC."

I don't think there's a direct correlation on exclusive content to index ratio (Kratos is particularly niche anyway). I think it's more likely you can chalk this up to it being in the PS3 demo.

Portal 2: Index ratio of 1.6
Sony's comment: "While the 1.6 index ratio is on par with the hardware index ratio, it is below the total index for shooting genre title on both platforms of 1.9. The PS3 version exclusively included a PC version of the game and Steam integration. Also, important to note, that Valve had a heritage on Xbox and this was the first title in this generation that shipped day and date on both platforms."

Considering this had the Steam "exclusive content" and this isn't a traditional shooter, this guy is really talking out his ass.

Fun times with different numbers though. (The more cynical on GAF are concluding this is pre-damage control for another disastrous NPD. We'll see)

Man, has Nintendo ever botched the 3DS. It's been six months (?) and they're adding a second stick (which should have been there in the first place?). Wonder how long til the hardware rev that makes this standard.

I don't know. They make a killing with add-on purchases. I mean just look at the Wii Motion Plus. Did that ever get built into the standard Wiimote? (I honestly don't know, I haven't follow Nintendo hardware at all this generation.)

I agree that Nintendo flubbed the launch, and that is uncharacteristic of them. Adding a second stick now fragments the market further of a device that is barely selling anyway. I suspect that this will further hurt the 3DS as more developers focus on the old DS.

Originally Posted by Stogieman

I don't know. They make a killing with add-on purchases. I mean just look at the Wii Motion Plus. Did that ever get built into the standard Wiimote? (I honestly don't know, I haven't follow Nintendo hardware at all this generation.)

Yes, it's included in the latest Wiimote, but you can't really compare - that was years after launch.

The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.

According to a statement from Nintendo received by Gamasutra following the NPD Group's August retail sales report, more than 235,000 3DS systems were sold during the month of August. Of those, about 185,000 units were sold during the 19 days following the price cut, representing a 260 percent increase from the same 19-day period in July.

"We basically sold to date approximately two million units, we know from the trophy system that probably more than three million people bought this game and played it," de Fondaumiere told GI.biz. "On my small level it's a million people playing my game without giving me one cent."

While dwelling on the continued ignorance to the concept of a second-hand market, it struck me today why the used market is so big. At the risk of being obvious it's because no good rental system exists (Gamefly's model is actually perfect – except that they tend to suffer from undersupply).

Unlike renting movies, the experience is entirely flawed when it comes to games. Ever rent games from a Blockbuster? It's barely worth the effort. You have a very limited amount of time to complete a game of unknown length or scale. Plus you're basically forced to focus on the game non-stop. I suppose you could rerent, but then the cost starts to approach levels that make a purchase more worthwhile. And if you can get that purchase cheaper used...

I can't wait for the day next gen when developers start complaining that people who wait for price-drops months after release are basically stealing from them.